


My Eyes Were Looking For You

by chentlemenfirst



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, a little bit of violence in the beginning, maybe?? - Freeform, wolfau
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 12:40:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15995423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chentlemenfirst/pseuds/chentlemenfirst
Summary: Jongdae gets lost as a child only to be lost again as an adult. He gets found again, but this time he thinks it's fate.





	My Eyes Were Looking For You

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #124: "when he got lost in the forest, he hadn't expected a big wolf with gentle eyes to guide him outside."  
> Word count: 4,273
> 
>  
> 
> [A/N]: Title taken from SHINee's Odd Eye (good listen, do recommend) 
> 
> I know next to nothing about medical... stuff... just fyi. so i’m very sorry for all the medical and veterinary inaccuracies, i’m still young :(
> 
> BIG BIG THANK YOU TO THE MODS for dealing with my constant last minute extension requests, and thank you all for running the most amazing and best fic fest out there. This is my first time writing for this fest and while writing this i realize i am SO good at procrastinating. maybe i 'll be back for next year for mr. jd's bday <3
> 
> as per usual with my fics, this is lightly edited and revised (orz)
> 
> To my prompter: thank you for writing the prompt <3 and i'm sorry i didn't do it justice :((
> 
> (warning: this is a mess lol)

 

It’s getting chilly out and Jongdae forgot to bring the sweater his mama told him to wear (he didn’t wear it because he didn’t want Jongdeok making fun of his favorite pink sweater). He wants to go back to their picnic and eat the rest of his peanut butter jelly sandwich he didn’t finish because he was too excited to eat, and wanted to play in the sandbox instead. And then he saw a  _ really  _ pretty butterfly, that Jongdeok would surely make fun of him again for trying to catch the thing, so he snuck away to follow it while his brother and parents started packing up their picnic, their backs turned away from him.

 

Jongdae is a curious child, always had been. Ask his mother. Too curious for his own good, she would say fondly, ruffling his hair as he whined.

 

But now the sun was beginning to set, and the sounds of the forest seemingly became louder. The birds chirping sounded as if it was right above him and the shifting of the trees sounded like someone stepping on a branch right behind him. 

 

Jongdae is not easily scared, his father would say, proudly patting his small shoulder. Even as he dangled Jongdae upside down to tickle his tummy, listening to him scream and squeal in glee.

  
  


Jongdae is a smart boy, he can read really well! But he suddenly remembers all the stories and books he had read about big cats and big wolves living in the forest, and that they come out at night.

 

The sun had nearly set behind the forest line, and Jongdae is now scared.

 

He’s swiveling around looking for a way back to their picnic, a path,  _ anything _ . But it’s too dark to see around him and the trees look like their shadows are trying to grab at his arms no matter where he goes. 

 

He trips on a branch he can’t see and knocks back into the trunk of a giant tree.

 

He hears a stick break somewhere  _ too  _ close to him making his head whip back and forth trying to find the source of the sound so he can run in the opposite direction of where it came from.

 

He finally sees what made the noise and he’s  _ terrified _ . Despite the dim glow of the moon, he can clearly make out the reflection of yellow eyes. In those reflections, he can only see malicious intent in those eyes. He books it, books it as fast as he can go, away from those scary eyes.

  
  


Jongdae is a smart boy, but he doesn’t know that big cats love a good chase.

  
  


He runs as fast as his legs can go, tripping on rocks and branches. But he can still  _ hear it  _ behind him. He can see a clearing up ahead of him, but he’s tired.

 

He trips.

 

He trips on the roots of a dead tree and faceplants into the forest floor, scraping up his hands, knees and elbows, even his chin.

 

There are tears streaming down his face, crawling back into the stump and letting out a yelp when he falls into a hole.

 

It’s quiet. So quiet that even the trees stopped rustling.

  
  


And then all of a sudden he’s being pounced on, the cat is making so much noise, growling and snarling at him in frustration. The roots of the dead tree are too tangled for the beast to get to him. He crawls further into the ground, whimpering every time it manages to get a giant paw through a gap. He covers his ears and shuts his eyes, hoping that when he opens them he’ll wake up in the back of the car with Jongdeok next to him playing his game boy and his parents quietly talking in the front.

 

No. 

 

When Jongdae opens his eyes again, the cat is digging at his safe hole. He sobs, outright  _ sobs _ , Jongdae never cries but here he doesn’t care that Jongdeok would laugh at him crying in a hole.

 

The wildcat somehow got an entire arm in this time, it’s clawing and swiping at the air above Jongdae. It’s  _ relentless _ . And the one time it gets its arm in far enough, its claws managing to land a swipe along his arm, blood immediately bubbling to the surface.

 

Jongdae screams.

 

And then all of a sudden, silence. And then there’s the sound of a body slamming into another one. Snarling. Growling. One loud yelp, and then, silence.

 

This silence seemed to stretch on for what seemed like hours.

 

He’s lightheaded now, his ears are ringing, buzzing with blood rushing in his ears even if he still has his hands cupped over his ears. Now he just feels tired and drained, all the adrenaline seemingly sleeping out of his pores as he slumps into the dirt.

 

He whimpers quietly when a warm hand pulls him out of the hole, he gets hushed by a soft voice. “ _ Shh _ .” The voice coos, wrapping him in what feels like a warm blanket. It’s warm, he thinks. He lets out a little gasp when the blanket moves, but he’s still warm. He giggles when what feels like a soft tongue licks at his wound, it stings a little but it makes his booboo feel better. He’s sleepy now, and doesn’t even register that’s he’s being lifted onto something big, furry and  _ warm _ , so he snuggles down, ready to fall asleep right there.

  
  


And somehow he’s back at the picnic spot, and his parents are frantically asking him questions  _ oh, baby we were so worried, where were you? Where did you go? What happened?  _ His head rolls, he’s so tired, and when his head lolls back towards the bushes he sees bright eyes. They don’t reflect like the cat’s had, they glow faintly within the bushes. They don’t scare him, but they make him feel safe and calm. And in a blink, they’re gone.

 

“Mama? I’m sleepy—” And he blacks out.

  
  
  
  
  


Jongdae wakes up in a cold sweat with a gasp.

 

Ever since that night, he’s never been able to recall anything except his parents screaming with worry and those glowing eyes that peered at him through the bushes.

 

Whenever he asked, his parents tell him he had wandered away from the picnic site that night without a trace, and they had searched the area for hours and even called the police, only for him to show up in a clearing about a mile down from their original location, a large gouge down his arm and many bruises and cuts everywhere else. When they took him to the hospital he had been treated for his smaller cuts and the more obvious wounds. The doctors there had found it odd how such a serious injury had already begun to close and heal so quickly.

 

When they had asked how he had gotten back, he said he didn’t remember anything except for the big cat that hurt him. Instead, he’s released from the hospital a few days later with a cast around his wrist, a diagnosis of traumatic amnesia and a mild concussion. Now though, he has a crippling fear of cats and a faded blue sweater he had from the accident. Neither of his parents ever remember owning the sweater, and it didn’t belong to Jongdeok. But whenever they tried taking it away from him he would cry and scream until he got it back. 

 

Recently he’s been having frequent dreams of those haunting eyes, over and over again. Something about them unnerves him, but they don't scare him. Instead, he feels longing and sees the longing in those eyes in return. And he has no idea what to do about it.

  
  
  


Jongdae moves away from his quiet fishing town to the loud and bustling Seoul, in order to find better intern opportunities in the city than he in his little village.

 

He doesn’t know what to expect in a city this large and busy, let alone all by  _ himself _ .

 

But luckily being in a town small enough to know every single person, he has connections through the various  _ uncles  _ and  _ aunties _ , for example: Uncle Lee’s son, and a good friend of his older brother, is a successful real estate agent who helped him find a decent apartment with all the necessities for a decent price, in a decent area close to his veterinary clinic.

 

It was almost perfect.

 

Jongdae was so happy with his new arrangements, and he was ready to begin a new chapter in his life.

  
  
  


Settling into his new home was way easier than he thought it would be. He had already gotten his kitchen fixed up and bedroom mostly put together. But unfortunately an hour into breaking down boxes, his keys get lost within the mess and it takes him another hour of going through packing peanuts and bubble wrap only to find them in his underwear drawer somehow tucked in between the pikachu boxers his brother got him as a gag gift for his eighteenth birthday. He doesn't even know why he still has them. Slightly embarrassed, he fishes out his keys and kicks the drawer shut.

  
  


After a short shower, he falls into bed with a satisfied huff and aching muscles. 

 

“This is going to be great,” he says to himself, a small smile appearing on his face as his eyes get heavy. “I can feel it.” 

 

And with that, he falls asleep.

  
  
  
  


He walks into the Seoul Animal Hospital bright and early at exactly six-fifty a.m, ten minutes earlier than he was initially supposed to be in, but he was so excited he woke up an hour before his alarm and just rolled around in his bed.

 

The door jingles happily when he walks through with a skip in his step and is immediately greeted with a cute interior of running puppies and curled up kittens.

The receptionist, a pretty girl with bright red hair, perks up at the sight of Jongdae. “Hello! You must be Kim Jongdae, the new intern? I’m Soojung, it's nice to meet you.” she smiles, standing up from her seat and leaning over the counter for a handshake. A bright green parrot in its perch squawks at him as he steps closer.

 

Jongdae smiles back and returns the handshake. “That'll be me, just call me Jongdae. Glad to finally be here!” They talk about little things, getting his information approved and confirmed.

 

“That should be that! All good to go now. Dr. Zhang, we like to just call him Yixing, should be in his office now; but he’s in the middle of a call right now.” she finishes typing on her keyboard, the parrot chirping every so often. 

 

“Great!” Jongdae grins and extends a finger out to the parrot--Kiwi, the small clinic conure, and Soojung’s little companion-- who decides to skip his finger and flies right into his hair. “Oh alright, how about taking me for a little tou--” The door slams open and a frazzled looking man comes in holding two puppies in one arm and another in the hood of his hoodie he’s wearing backwards. Everyone in the room startles, Kiwi screams.

 

“Soojung!”

 

“Oh, Baekhyun! Let me grab Yifan, follow me,” she says calmly with a tone of urgency, “Come, come, you know the drill.” The man promptly follows, leaving Jongdae and Kiwi in the waiting room reeling in the aftershock of the man’s entrance.

 

“Oh, well that was...quite the entry…” Kiwi clicks angrily in agreement.

  
  


Twenty minutes later while Jongdae is pointing out different fishes and corals in the fish tank to Kiwi, the man comes back out with an impressive blank look and his hoodie turned around correctly.

 

“Uh, were the puppies okay?” Jongdae asks, uncertain.

 

The man turns to him sharply, as if he wasn't expecting another person in the room. His eyes widen and brows shoot up beneath his bangs before he yanks his hood over his head and stalks out of the clinic without a word.

 

“O...kay..?” Jongdae says, Kiwi sings ‘bye-bye’.

 

“Jongdae?” a man in a white lab coat (with a little puppy and sheep pin attached to the pocket) with a dimple deep in his right cheek comes out from what Jongdae assumes is his office. 

 

He springs up with a grin accidentally jostling Kiwi, “Hello! Yes, that's me!” he says eagerly, sticking an arm out for a handshake. “It's nice to finally meet.”

 

Dr. Zhang smiles and returns the handshake, “Yes, it's great finally being able to talk face to face and not through email.”

  
  
  
  
  


After almost a full day of watching Dr. Zhang--Yixing--go about his day seeing patients and overseeing minor surgeries. Jongdae was having a  _ blast _ . He loved what he saw and experienced, and he can’t wait to someday be apart of all of it.

 

He waves goodbye to Sunyoung, the receptionist that replaced Sooyoung sometime during the day, who waves back with an equally excited grin as she calls out a cheerful ‘goodnight!’. He goes home that night whistling with a skip in his step and a silly grin on his face.

  
  


He makes his way back to his apartment complex, stopping by the convenience store to get a quick dinner and a few more toiletries for his bathroom. When he actually got to his flat, it was dark save for the city lights coming through the living room window. Toeing off his shoes and putting his jacket away in the hall closet he notices a draft throughout the house. Jongdae stills, listening for any sounds he thinks could be an intruder. His apartment complex isn’t big, only four floors, and he’s located on the second floor where a person could easily climb up the fire escape. He really hopes he didn’t leave the window open because he really doesn't remember opening it.

 

He hears ragged breathing and hushed whispers coming from the kitchen.

 

“Hello?” he calls, not really sure what he’s expecting. “Is someone here?” he continues slowly making his way further into his house. He really should be calling the police, but for some reason, there’s something stopping him from doing it. It’s quiet now and he can no longer hear the whispers and ragged breathing he heard earlier. 

 

He doesn’t really know what he was thinking-- or if he was thinking at all when he flicked on the lights. Jongdae doesn’t make a sound when he sees his kitchen--with all its drawers and cupboards open, with its contents scattered everywhere--he makes a soft and confused sound in his throat. “Wha--”

 

A clear groan cuts him off and his eyes immediately go towards the leg sticking out from behind his kitchen island. He gasps.

 

“Are you okay?” he calls, throwing his bags to the side and sliding to his knees. “Excuse m--” he gets cut off when the man growls at him. Actually  _ growls  _ at him. Jongdae recoils and pulls his hand back with a gasp. The man in front of him looks very familiar and almost  _ feels  _ familiar. When he steps away he takes a second to actually scan his surroundings. His pots and pans are everywhere, the utensil drawer had been taken out and all the said utensils were scattered across the floor.

 

Jongdae stands and the man glares up at him. “You really had to make a mess in my kitchen?” he stays silent but squints against the light. When he looks over to the windowsill he sees damaged wood and the head of someone ducking down and darting away. “Hey!” Jongdae calls after the person and lunges towards the window only to be stopped by the man’s fierce growl.

 

“Jesus, alright,” Jongdae mumbles when the man coughs, blood dribbling from a cut on his lips. When he gets down to the man’s level he lets out a deep snarl. “Look, I’m just trying to help you out and I’d rather you not bleed out in my kitchen. So  _ please  _ let me help you.” Jongdae pleads.

  
  


The man doesn’t say anything and lets Jongdae move him from the kitchen floor to the living room, keeping a wary eye on him the entire time.

 

“Baekhyun right?” he glances at the mentioned man who looks surprised.

 

“How do you know my name,” he whimpers quietly when Jongdae moves his hand from his wound. He’s a long and deep scratch in his side; oddly the bleeding has slowed down very quickly for an injury this serious, but Jongdae doesn’t dwell too much on it, there are more pressing issues.

 

“Today when you came into the clinic,” Jongdae answers, laying him down on his couch. Baekhyun groans. “You made quite the entrance with those puppies,” he says quietly. “I should call an ambulance,” Baekhyun grabs his wrist.

 

“No. No ambulance.” he holds on tighter. “I’ll be fine.”

 

Jongdae frowns and winces at the hard grip. “You don’t look fine to me.” Baekhyun just glares harder. “Fine.” the words come out so suddenly it surprises him and Baekhyun. “But if you bleed out and die on my couch, I’ll find your friend and make him pay for it.” Baekhyun scowls.

 

“I don’t have any friends.”

 

Jongdae rolls his eyes before getting up and going over to his linen closet for some towels, a big bowl of water, and a first aid kit. “I really think we should call an ambulance,” he says quietly, kneeling in front of Baekhyun to take a closer look at the wound, “I don’t have the right tools to stitch this up.”

 

“No. Ambulance.” Baekhyun growls, “I’ll be fine.” he repeats. Jongdae scowls back at him, but sighs in defeat and starts cleaning the wound. By now the wound has stopped bleeding making Jongdae tilt his head curiously. 

 

“What.” Baekhyun grunts at each swipe. He’s sweating now: not a good sign. 

 

“You already stopped bleeding,” Jongdae says, his brow furrowing. He hears Baekhyun scoff lightly before going quiet, letting Jongdae patch him up. 

 

When he finishes, Baekhyun is fitfully sleeping and shivering. Fever. Jongdae worries as he gnaws at his lip trying to figure out the situation and everything that's happened in the span of two hours. Any normal person would have called the police immediately, but for some reason, he could not bring himself to do so. 

 

He studies Baekhyun while he sleeps and notices he’s wearing the same hoodie from earlier that day, nothing too odd. The cut on his lip from earlier had already scabbed over, leaving a trail of dark red crust down his chin. Jongdae wets a towel and wipes as much of it away as he can and dabs at the sweat lining his forehead. He sighs as he stands, making his way back to the linen closet for an extra blanket to cover the man with.

 

He goes back to the kitchen for a glass of water and some medicine, he checks out the damage done to his windowsill while he’s there. It isn’t bad, the outer screen in knocked out and lying on the emergency exit, the frame is still mostly intact and the glass isn’t broken much to Jongdae’s relief. When he walks back into the living room, Baekhyun is awake. 

 

“Stop looking at me like that,” Jongdae mumbles, setting down the water and medicine on the coffee table.

 

“How do I know you’re not trying to poison me?”

 

Jongdae rolls his eyes, “If I wanted to kill you I would’ve just left you to bleed out on my kitchen floor.” he scoffs, cleaning up the supplies he used on Baekhyun.

 

Baekhyun scoffs, his eyes looking glassy with sleep. “Whatever,” he trails offs, snuggling into the blanket, “Nobody asked you to help me.”

 

Jongdae watches him slip back into sleep.

  
  
  


Later that night while he gets ready for bed he slips into his favorite blue sweater and goes to check up on Baekhyun one last time-- he was out like a light, passed out on the couch sleeping with his mouth wide open. He thinks about everything that just happened that day as he slips into bed.

 

“What in the _ fresh hell  _ just happened?”

  
  
  
  


When Jongdae wakes up the next morning, the blanket is folded up neatly, the glass in drying in the sink, everything is back where it should be and Baekhyun is gone.

  
  


Days go by and Jongdae’s life returns to normalcy. Eventually going back and forth between the veterinary clinic and home starts getting boring to Jongdae, who was used to doing more than one thing every day. He shares his sentiments with Soojung who suggests volunteering at the animal shelter next door, and maybe if he wants to, adopt an animal from there. Jongdae isn’t so sure about the adopting part, but he thinks it’ll be a good opportunity to be with animals. Plus Soojung says the shelter has a partnership with the clinic, so all the new animals that need medical treatment get transferred over for help and then go back to get put up for adoption. It sounded like a great idea to Jongdae, and he was very excited to start.

  
  


That is until he walked into the shelter for the very first time.

 

“Jesus,”

 

“Actually I believe it’s Kim Jongdae, scheduled for three-fifteen p.m?” Jongdae frowns, snarking back at Baekhyun. Baekhyun is seated at the front counter of the shelter stroking a little kitten next to him. Jongdae warily steps away from the young animal. 

 

“I should’ve known it was going to be you.” the other grumbles. He gets up, bringing up the kitten with him. “I’ll go get Joonmyun, wait here.”

 

Kim Joonmyun is a friendly looking man, and Jongdae immediately feels welcomed-- unlike when Baekhyun first greeted him. 

 

“Jongdae, right? Come on back, let me show you the kennels.”

  
  
  


By the time his shift was over and he’d gotten familiar with the place and he leaves with aching muscles from picking up bags of litter and food, and dog hair all over his front. Luckily Joonmyun allowed him to work mostly with the dogs, as his fear wouldn’t let him step a foot into the feline kennels, but he said that working with the cats would be inevitable. Fine with Jongdae, one step closer to getting over his fears of cats. Hopefully.

 

Joonmyun sends him off with a wave, and once again, Baekhyun had disappeared before Jongdae could see him once more. 

 

It’s not like he wanted to see the other male anyway.

  
  
  


He decides to make a stop at the supermarket; wanting to make a homemade dinner. It will never be as good as his mother’s but he’ll make do with his basic cooking skills and online recipes. 

 

Milk, he needs milk. Oh, and eggs. Once he makes his way to the dairy section of the store he grabs a carton of milk and tries to grab his favorite brand of eggs when another hand intercepts him and grabs the carton first.

 

He pulls back with a gasp.

 

“Why is it always you.”

 

Jongdae frowns at Baekhyun, who takes out a headphone piece at the interruption. “I was going to grab it first,” Jongdae grumbles, pouting a little as he pulls his hand away. It was the last carton of his favorite brand, but he didn’t really want to start anything with Baekhyun, especially after what happened in his apartment. 

 

When he looks up, Baekhyun is giving him a look he can’t describe. Something like recognition, or a little hint of gladness? Or is he even...blushing?

 

“Wha-” Jongdae begins but is shut up when Baekhyun shoves the eggs into his arms.

 

“Take them.” he shoves his hands into his pockets and just like that he’s gone again. Jongdae stands there a little speechless, glancing around to see if anyone else had seen the odd interaction. By this point he really should be used to it. He isn’t sure what was going on but ever since the day he nursed Baekhyun in his apartment he’s been seeing him  _ everywhere _ . At the nearby coffee shop, the gym, the occasional hole-in-the-wall cafe Jongdae happens to chance upon, and here at the grocery store.

 

He goes about the rest of his grocery shopping a bit awkwardly, ready for Baekhyun to pop out of nowhere again. But eventually he finishes without seeing the other male again. 

 

When he leaves the sky has turned orange and blue, and the neon signs from nearby restaurants flicker on, but nobody is out on the streets save for the few stragglers taking their time getting home. The sky is cloudy and the moon casts a ghostly glow over the city. But he continues home without a thought.

 

He makes it a few blocks before his complex before he feels a little uneasy. Like someone was watching him. He wouldn’t get attacked in the city would he?

 

He doesn’t make it past the opening of an alleyway when he’s suddenly he’s being knocked to the ground and his groceries are sent flying. Memories of being lost in the forest resurface and he’s stricken with fear, frozen on the ground while  _ something  _ snarls over him. He whimpers and covers his eyes.

 

“Get off of him.” a voice growls, loud and commanding. Jongdae is gently pulled up into comforting arms, he feels faint. “What do you think you’re doing?” the voice snarls. When Jongdae looks up and sees Baekhyun, he lets his head fall onto his shoulder. 

 

A different voice answers him in the same tone, but Jongdae is quickly losing consciousness and he can’t hear what he says. But before he passes out he feels the vibrations of Baekhyun’s voice telling him to stay awake. 

 

And just like that, Jongdae blacks out.

 

**Author's Note:**

> NOW I KNOW WHAT YOU ALL ARE THINKING: WHERE'S THE REST OF THE FIC??
> 
> i have decided to chapter this (once i figure out how to do that...), and i'll be back to upload the other chapters sometime after the reveals :') 
> 
> pls dont be mad, i went through a big writer's block for this :((
> 
> please leave comments and kudos on the other fics! they're all so lovely and wonderful <33
> 
>  
> 
> come talk to me! [twitter](https://twitter.com/chentlemenfirst) | [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/Chentlemenfirst) ♡


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